Dear all,
As many of you would be aware, our belief in the role of alternatives in portfolios is a view we’ve advocated for over many years. With the current state of markets, we’re witnessing first-hand the important and valuable role alternatives play, particularly during volatile times. Alternatives not only offer diversification but depending on the strategy, can generate returns in downward moving markets/securities and thereby help protect investors’ capital in volatile markets like those we’re currently experiencing.
When markets were more buoyant, some advisers moved away from retaining alternatives in portfolios when they were under-performing compared to equities, but when markets got tough, the role of alternatives in a well-diversified portfolio became clear. Our depth of experience across different markets has certainly allowed us to strengthen our investment philosophy and validate our beliefs, to the benefit of our clients.
Quality of Advice Review
We recently joined with other participants in the research sector to make a joint submission to Treasury on the Quality of Advice (QoA) Review.
As an investment research business, we’re of course supportive of the review and its objectives, and remain a strong advocate of the value of quality advice and improving access to, and the cost of, advice for consumers. However, we believe the recommendation to deregulate general advice may have adverse effects.
Quality product research and screening for advisers and their clients is a critical market function, which will continue to be the case as the supply of product options and manufacturers for investors inevitably expands. This view is consistent with ASIC’s Regulatory Guide 79 (RG79) and the requirements it places on research report providers.
A regulated approach to investment product and super fund research and delivery, together with the consumer protection measures noted in the QoA Review recommendations, will afford consumers and their advisers stronger protections and support the delivery of quality advice.
While we’re not providers of personal advice, we feel that the replacement of best interest obligations with obligations to provide ‘good advice’ may have the unintended consequence of lowering the quality of advice to consumers, and the standards of advice across the industry as a whole.
We look forward to hearing more detail from Treasury as industry engagement progresses.
Celebrating funds management excellence
It was fantastic to host some of the funds management industry’s key people at our annual Zenith Fund Awards on 14 October – the first after two years of online awards. Since our very first awards ceremony in 2012, a time when we had just 17 categories, we’ve grown to deliver awards in 23 categories and celebrate funds management excellence right across the sector.
We introduced a new category this year for Index Fund Manager of the Year, recognising the continued evolution in and importance of the index fund sector. We also split our responsible investment awards into two categories: Sustainable and Responsible Investments – Income, and Sustainable and Responsible Investments – Growth, to better reflect the growing and diverse sector that is responsible investing.
Congratulations to the winners of our major awards: Graham Rich for Industry Contribution Award, Fidante Partners for Distributor of the Year, and Perpetual Asset Management for Fund Manager of the Year. You can view the full list of winners and finalists here.
Access to more detailed super and pension fund ratings in Mosaic
Earlier this year, we released super fund investment research reports in Mosaic, delivered through our Group partner, Chant West. In the first quarter of 2023, we’ll be expanding our super fund ratings and research offering in Mosaic to include product and investment option ratings, returns and asset allocation data for investment options from major super funds. We look forward to sharing more about this valuable enhancement early in the new year.
Growing our team
We’ve made a recent addition to our FE fundinfo team here in Australia, expanding the sales team through the appointment of a Head of Business Development - Fund Managers & Technology Partners, Glenn Boyes. He joins us from IRESS where he was most recently Head of Sales & Account Management (Australia). Glenn will lead FE fundinfo Australia’s engagement with key clients to support the growth of the business’ tools, technology and data solutions in the institutional space.
A special milestone
October 2022 marks a special milestone for our business - the 20th anniversary since Zenith was established. It’s a privilege to have been a part of Zenith’s growth and evolution and to now lead the Australian arm of the business. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all of our hard-working employees over those 20 years who’ve built the business to what it is today, and continue to create and deliver quality products and services to our valued clients. I look forward to seeing what the next decade delivers for Zenith as part of the global FE fundinfo business. I’d also like to sincerely thank our loyal clients, many who have been clients for much of that journey, for their support, feedback and contribution to shaping our products and services. We very much appreciate your support.
We’ll be attending the upcoming FPA Professionals Congress from 23-24 November in Sydney as part of IMAP’s Managed Accounts Central, so if you’re attending the Congress, please come and say hello to the team.
Best wishes
David Wright
CEO
